Malaysia’s oil palm acreage expanded to 5.64 million ha for the year under review, up by 4.63% compared to 5.39 million ha previously (Table 1). Floods towards the end of 2014 left a severe impact on palm oil production. As a result, crude palm oil (CPO) output registered 9.04 million tonnes for the first half of the year, but rose to 10.92 million tonnes in the second half with improved weather conditions and reduction of tree stress.
Overall CPO output went up to 19.96 million tonnes, or by 294,628 tonnes (1.5%), over the comparative period. This was due to recovery in the production of fresh fruit bunches that also showed better quality; as well as the maturing of newly-planted areas especially in Sabah and Sarawak. The volume of crude palm kernel oil fell slightly by 916 tonnes or 0.04%.
Palm oil ending stocks increased, closing at 2.63 million tonnes in December or 38.46% higher year-on-year. Palm kernel oil closing stocks stood at 0.34 million tonnes or an increase of 12.48%.
Export demand for palm oil and derived products was 1.19% higher, with the volume going up to 25.37 million tonnes from 25.07 million tonnes a year earlier (Table 2). Palm oil made up the bulk of exports at 17.45 million tonnes, compared to 17.31 million tonnes previously.
Oleochemical exports increased slightly by 0.78%, going up to 2.85 million tonnes from 2.83 million tonnes a year earlier. This was mainly due to higher demand from the EU-28, China, USA and Japan. Reversing the 2014 scenario, biodiesel exports more than doubled to 178,942 tonnes (by 104.84%), but exports of finished products went down to 440,594 tonnes (by 2.01%).
Malaysian palm oil exports increased by 147,966 tonnes (0.85%). The top 10 importing countries and regions (Table 3) took up 11.5 million tonnes, or 66% of the 17.45 million tonnes exported.
